NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks were higher on Wednesday, following on from gains in Europe and most parts of Asia.

China surprised by announcing it was exempting a number of U.S.-manufactured goods from tariffs due to be applied next month.

"There's an element of improved trade optimism," Chuck Carlson, CEO at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana told the Reuters Thomson news agency Wednesday. "But the bigger element is what we've seen over the last few days where investors are more willing to put more money into the value side of the equation."

"To see value having some nice days speaks to this idea of improving breadth in the market," Carlson added.

U.S. President Donald Trump caused a stir as he called on the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates, and take them into negative territory.

"It's been this raging friction between Trump and the Fed," Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia told Reuters Thomson. "At the moment the market ... still believes the Fed's going to act independently and not allow itself to be politicized regardless of what Trump may be saying or tweeting."

At the close on Wednesday the Dow Jones industrials were ahead 227.61 points or 0.85% at 27,137.04.

The Standard and Poor's 500 added 21.54 points or 0.72% to 3,000.93.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 85.52 points or 1.06% to 8,169.68.

On foreign exchange markets the euro got battered. It last traded at 1.1008. The British pound retreated to 1.2327. The Japanese yen fell to 107.79, while the Swiss franc eased to 0.9929.

The Canadian dollar fell to 1.3196. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were a fraction weaker at 0.6861 and 0.6415 respectively.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.86%. The German Dax added 0.74%, while in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.44%.

On Asian markets, in Japan on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 rose 205.66 points or 0.96% to 21,597.76.

The Shanghai Composite dropped 12.39 points or 0.41% to 3,008.81.

The Australian All Ordinaries strengthened by 24.20 points or 0.36% to 6,752.20.

It was in Hong Kong though where stocks starred. The Hang Seng jumped 475.38 points or 1.78% to 27,159.06.